Despite the fact that the bathroom is where most of us start and end our day, most of us seem to pay little heed to the way we light it.  For most people, bathroom lighting is something of a postscript to the rest of our interior decorating schemes; in fact, bathroom wall lights may be so low-down on your list of priorities that they fail to register at all! Such lack of foresight and planning is a huge mistake!  Imagine how much better you would feel emerging to greet your world from a bright, cheerful and, above all, functionally lit room.[DFR::94f5b096-2027-8fda-7524-b9059c9ecdb2-2687-af|align_left_1]  Is it over-egging the pudding to say that the correct bathroom lighting can be life-changing?  Well, yes, probably but there is no doubt that a few well chosen bathroom wall lights will brighten your day.

Why wall mounted bathroom lights?  Because they offer the combination of ambience and functionality that every bathroom needs – what use is a bathroom that isn’t functional?  But, by the same token, who wants to spend more time than necessary in a room that’s starkly lit?

And – worthy of a separate paragraph- make sure you understand the bathroom lighting regulations, which are, quite necessarily, strict on what lights you can have where.  It’s been said before but it won’t hurt to say it again: water and electricity do not make good bedfellows!

In most modern bathrooms, which are, shall we say, bijoux, just placing wall lights around the mirror area will be enough to provide soft ambient light as well as exceptionally practical task lighting.

For task lighting in particular, the closer you can get to ‘daylight coloured’ light the better; both halogen lamps and LED lights will help in this respect. The real secret to good bathroom task lighting though is the position of the lights. Get it wrong and you’ll see ugly shadows beneath your eyes when you look into the mirror – even if you don’t have any! To eliminate shadows, light needs to come from all directions and illuminate all the planes of your face equally; that is the theory behind those oh so glamorous movie star dressing room mirrors.

Bathroom wall lights placed to either side and above the mirror will achieve much the same effect.  The only exception to this is if you have an exceptionally large mirror, in which case you will need added light from a ceiling pendant.[DFR::5fc7d0ce-9f38-a386-246d-5d76410fe976-2687-af|align_right_1]

Having got the task lighting right, you can move onto setting the general light levels, as well as start thinking about simple mood lighting; both of which can be achieved with the same three wall lights.  By using separate switches for the various lights you will build in versatility.  Soaking in the bath?  Switch on the central wall light and use the dimmer switch to lower the light levels; putting on make-up for a night out on the town?  Those three wall lights around the mirror, up full, will ensure you don’t go out with lipstick on your teeth!

A few candles, et voila, instant sanctuary.